Three Incumbents Lose In Op

OAKLAND PARK — In a strong rejection of the City Council`s past ventures into the politics of gun control and abortion, voters Tuesday ousted three incumbents.

Defeated were Mayor Glenn Dufek and council members Charles Howard and Catherine Thompson. Elected were Council President H. Keneth Powell and challengers Caryl Stevens and James Loss.

The election will switch control of the five-person council from Dufek and three council colleagues to a 3-2 majority headed by Powell.

Powell, Stevens and Loss ran as a slate promising to change the controversial course of city politics by vowing not to use their public offices to promote their private views on gun control and abortion.

Dufek, an anti-abortion activist, was soundly beaten by Powell in the race for Seat 1. Powell, who was elected to his fourth, four-year council term, captured 63 percent of the ballots cast.

The mayor received nearly 31 percent of the vote, while Dominick Speziale, a stockbroker and the third Seat 1 candidate, received about 6 percent.

Dufek said he didn`t think his defeat meant voters were rejecting his personal brand of politics. ``No, not really,`` he said. ``I just think it was a lot of (Powell campaign) money and a lot of name calling, a lot of nasty stuff.``

Loss, however, disagreed, saying that voters he talked with said they wanted their elected city officials to stop promoting their personal beliefs.

``That was the feeling I was getting out campaigning,`` said Loss. ``The fact that we defeated the incumbents by a 2-1 margin was a positive statement that the citizens wanted this nonsense stopped.``

In the race for Seat 4, Stevens easily defeated Howard and Mervin Span, the city`s first black council candidate. Stevens received more than 56 percent of the vote, Howard captured 31 percent and Span earned 12 percent.

Loss, the husband of former council member Florence Loss, was elected to Seat 5. The council majority ousted Tuesday had appointed Thompson to replace Florence Loss when she resigned in November.

There were four candidates in the Seat 5 race, but Loss still managed to get 52 percent of the vote, easily defeating Thompson, who received 26 percent. Robert Swindell captured 12 percent of the vote, and Dale Hoover, a candidate supported by council member Robert Pisano, received about 9 percent.

Of the city`s 12,594 registered voters, 3,490, or 27 percent, went to the polls.

The election was the first chance in two years for voters to pass judgment on the conservative council majority`s decision to take positions opposing abortion and encouraging residents to own firearms.

Dufek, a council member for three years who was appointed mayor in January 1984 to replace H. Layton Mainguy, and council members Mary Laveratt and Pisano had promoted their private beliefs on the issues while they were council members.

Dufek, 37, twice issued mayoral proclamations attacking abortion as immoral. In the spring of 1983, Dufek, Laveratt and Pisano composed the majority that passed a resolution encouraging residents to own firearms.